A ''chambre de bonne'' is a type of French

apartment An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...

consisting of a single room in a

middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

or apartment building. It is generally found on the top floor and only accessible by a staircase, sometimes a separate "service staircase". Initially, these rooms were intended as the bedroom for one of the family's domestics, and the name originates from the colloquial name for such maids: a "bonne à tout faire". Today, ''chambres de bonne'' are usually the cheapest rung on the Parisian letting market, and are primarily rented by less well-off workers and students. They are also in high demand among workers who wish to maintain a small room or postal address in a big city, especially Paris. Due to the social level of the envisaged occupants, ''chambres de bonne'' are characterised by their tight proportions. The rooms usually have a floor area of around , which is sometimes accentuated by being in a garret. They tend to offer minimal facilities:

toilets A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human waste (urine and Human feces, feces) and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry toilet, dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be desi ...

are usually shared with the neighbouring rooms, and located on the landing. ''Chambres de bonne'' have nevertheless been the object of

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to preserve their occupants' quality of life and health. In the twentieth century, the French government stipulated that all rental properties must have a minimum floor area of , a volume of , and openings (windows, doors, etc.) equivalent to an eighth of the surface area. In recent years,

landlord A landlord is the owner of property such as a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate that is rented or leased to an individual or business, known as a tenant (also called a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). The term landlord appli ...

s have attempted to rebrand their ''chambres de bonne'' by advertising them as ''studettes'', a hitherto-unknown category of housing for smaller studios (broadly, those of or less). Since most listings agencies do not recognise a firm distinction between "studios" and "studettes", ''chambres de bonne'' may also simply be advertised as studios. Parisian apartment-hunters are, nevertheless, often able to infer that a studio is a ''chambre de bonne'' from its listing, due to the distinctive features described above.

References

{{reflist Real estate in France Apartment types

See also

References